Weekly update. . .It's March!

Yay! It's March!! I know I may seem overly excited about that but. . . it is one of my favorite months of the year because it's #MeettheMaker time, also known as the only time I know what to post about mainly because someone smarter than me published directions. 😅

So, I am trying to get ahead on pre-scheduling the facebook and instagram posts for the challenge, normally I only schedule a week at a time, but I have a whole month plan now. 😎 Not that I expect that to really make it that much easier because even with prompts I still have to figure out what they mean to me and what I'm going to post about it, then go looking for photos that represent that.  😏 ~still work~

First event of the year, we'll see how it goes. I love the fairgrounds as a venue, it's a nice event space, but honestly it has been hit or miss. My first event there went pretty well but the last one was a dud, scheduling is very important around here and the November event had a lot of scheduling conflicts with other events and football games. 😕 I am going to try again but even this one has scheduling conflicts. . .like the Circus being at the fairgrounds at the same time. I don't know if that will be a good thing or a bad thing. 😐 I'm also debating inside vs. outside, normally I want to be inside no weather worries, no stuff blowing over, but if the circus is there then maybe outside in the parking lot is better.  Although, if I do go outside then I take less stuff because I have to pack the pop-up tent and sandbags and certain displays don't go because of the possibility of weather, less paintings, different earring and necklace stands that don't blow over. There are always so many things to consider sometimes I have a really hard time making decisions. 

Speaking of hard decisions, there is just over a week left until the selections and notifications for this year's Rose Fest. . .I'd bet $5 I'm going to get rejected again. 😅 We will wait and see but honestly, I do not have high hopes, maybe one of these days I'll make friends with the right people, although I'm pretty socially anxious, hate leaving my house and don't have an easy time making friends so. . .that's not super likely either. 😅😏 ~fingers crossed~

I am still working the facebook recommendations and doing the weekly and monthly goals, building my audience by increasing followers by posting more. 

I'm not only making progress on my "goals" for facebook, but I'm getting really close to some major milestones. I am only a handful of followers away from 400 facebook followers & 500 instagram followers. 😀 That may not sound like a lot but it's huge to me. 

Weekly update. . . you're doing it wrong

I have spent considerable time in the last year on social media, a lot of that has been focused on facebook and instagram, but I still have this blog and a Pinterest account. I have done pretty well on my "Weekly" blog posts, keeping it consistent and sharing the link around. 😉 I've done ok with facebook and instagram, at times my posting has been sporadic, but I've learned a lot and increased my audiences on both. 

I do think the insight tools and planner things have helped, once I got used to them and figured out how to use them. Although, looking at a blank calendar that only has 1 active post time suggested is kind of intimidating. . . 😐  

Especially since the recommendations for the week are for a lot more than 1 post 😏 like 3-6 stories and 10, 11 posts per site. (Plus, as I re-read what I wrote above I'm not sure I should say I've "figured" things out because social media platforms are constantly changing things.) 😕

And while I will try to meet or exceed those numbers, I regularly wonder if it's all a waste of time, I mean, I think I'm doing things right and making strides towards something, but who really knows if any of it is worthwhile. 😕

I have been half-heartedly working on Pinterest for the last few years.  I never really understood it, but I pin things and sometimes they are seen or shared or clicked. I've never been convinced that I get sales from Pinterest, but I have seen some traffic in my google analytics. I have joined some goimagine based boards to re-pin to, but again I admit I don't understand Pinterest.  So, last week I watched a replay of Kara Buntin's Pinterest 101 on Maker Circle and . . . well sh*t!  I've been doing everything wrong, and Pinterest changes their stuff too often and I have a lot of work to do to fix and reorganize what I have and then going forward I need to do things very, very differently, or just give up on Pinterest.  😅 

Nah, I'm too stubborn to give up on things 😉 I'll keep plugging away. 😎

Weekly update. . .almost

Well, it has been a week and this is an update, although not much to talk about business-wise. 😑 I haven't made anything new, I haven't been posting much, and I failed to meet my facebook posting goals for this week. 

This is one of those "life" got in the way weeks, but it's not even my life stuff I'm dealing with. 😅 I'm helping a friend move, actually this has been quite the process and work in progress for months I just haven't been real public about it. There absolutely is a story, a big, long, complicated not-mine-to-tell kind of story, that I've just been quietly dealing with while trying to maintain a semblance of normalcy. 😶 

Of course, lots of things are Not normal, like some of the stuff in my google analytics lately looks super weird. First, goimagine is USA only sellers and Buyers, people in other countries cannot purchase, so it always looks a little strange when I see foreign countries in my stats. Second, many people don't have Mosiac or don't have goggle analytics set up with it, so they won't see these types of things in the stats provided in the seller dashboard. 

However, in the last 3 days I've had a huge spike in views and they all seem to be in Poland?!? 😦 What?!? Why?!? I don't understand. 😟 This looks crazy, nearly 150 views from a single foreign country in 3 days, something is very strange. 

Seriously, the whole live realtime box continuously having Poland visits showing is Weird. Do you have any idea how rare it is that I actually happen to look at the same time someone is actually actively on my site?!? I mean I don't do statistics or that kind of math but in my experience previously I've had about a 1 in 10 chance of seeing someone active, but for the last 2 days it is continuous, which is starting to really freak me out. 

Weekly update. . . just tired

I would say I'm still sick, but I think I'm really just perpetually tired. However, I did manage to complete another week of facebook goals including my monthly goal to increase followers. 😁😌🎇

I kind of love the "medal" of achievement, it's cute. 😇

And I managed to increase my follower count on both instagram and facebook! I am surprised but really happy about it. I'm also pretty happy with how the rainbow dumpsters turned out we bought 2 different "rainbow" filaments and both came out fabulous. 😎 Although, they are completely different looks, and the one is definitely more pastel and not a true Roygbiv rainbow and the dumpsters are small so getting multiple colors in one required some tweaking. 

These are listed and available for sale now.

https://rainbowmaille.goimagine.com/mini-dumpster-rainbow/ 

As a matter of fact, I created a whole new shop category called Desk Decor for the dumpsters and I converted one of the chainmaille ball listings from "christmas ornaments" into "fidget toys". 😉 Work that I was really happy with until I went to screenshot it and realized the photo-sizing is a titch off on one of them. 😏 

Maybe it's just my OCD and no one else will notice. . .except all you lovely people who read this post. 😅

Weekly update. . .recovering

Well, it's been a whole week of being sick and while I did throw some fresh photos on the existing listing for the dumpsters and added white and blue to the color options, I did not get photos or create the new listing for the rainbow versions. 😏 

I did manage to meet the fb goals but mostly by accident. 😅 I'm not used to stories, so I didn't realize that trying to put multiple photos in one actually counts as multiple stories. 😉

In other facebook-y news I got another reminder email that they plan to screw everyone that does not convert to fb's checkout and give fb their cut, like the permanent banner in my commerce manager was not enough. 😏

I mean it's only been there for nearly an entire darn year. 😐

Now, I suppose it is possible that some people who never venture into the meta suite would not have seen the banner, but then again if you've never been into the meta suite then you very likely have never set up a pixel or connected a "shop" to begin with. 😏

So, I imagine that for some people an email notifying them of the disabling of something they never used anyway could be confusing, like a "what's this about?" or "why do I care?" However, for those of us that fought the battle to set up and connect a pixel and have the "Shop" link to our real shops on goimagine, this is a supremely annoying attempt at a hostile take-over of our "checkout" process, and I will not go along with it. 😠

No matter how many times they change the color of the banner or the font or if they make the whole thing bold or the size of the screen. I refuse to be bullied into changing my business or accepting yet another 3rd party into my finances.  😐 I don't wanna and no one can make me!! Yes, I still have the childhood stubborn streak and I realize how childish the previous statement sounds, but it is true, and I am lucky enough that I can make that kind of choice. My small business does not support a family it's just a self-sustaining hobby, an outlet for my creativity and events to force myself to socialize instead of becoming completely agoraphobic. I'm sure there will be many who feel they have no choice, people who actually do rely on their business income and cannot afford to lose out on possible sales. 

Weekly update. . .I'm sick, again

This has been a sucky and repetitive flu season, I am sick again 😒 sore throat, sinus issues, fever off and on and so tired. 😞 

My husband has been rather prolific in this 3D printing, he has ordered several colors of filament and is learning his way along. 

There are now multiple versions of rainbows along with blue and white. I need to shoot some more photos and update the listing options, but I am considering making the rainbow its' own listing. I'll end up with 2 listings for the same product but one will be solid colors with choice for base and lid and the other will be multi-color and just come with the lids that were printed with each base. 

In spite of getting sick again, I have managed to stay on track with my social media posting and have successfully completed 3 weeks in a row. 😎 This little streak may not last much longer I have noticed that each week the number of posts increases, so I may not be able to keep up. The first week it only wanted 1 insta story and 6 posts each, but now this upcoming week it's like 3-4 stories and 10-13 posts and that's too much, I think. 

Yes posting "daily" was my original goal but this is multiple posts a day, so I seriously doubt I'll keep going even though I love the green checkmarks, and I did feel like I was accomplishing something, and my stats have been increasing. 😏 So in a way I was correct by playing along facebook has in fact been showing my posts to more people regularly, the numbers don't lie, more "reach" and more engagement. However, with the continuous increases I don't really want to end up doing 2-3 posts every day, I will run out of things to post. 😅 Or it'll just end up being the cats.

I have applied for an event, my first application of the year. 😇 The event is not until April and I doubt I'll get in; it's a juried event and I was rejected last year so I do not have high hopes this year. But you never know if you don't try and I've decided I will just keep applying every year and eventually they will let me in, right?! 😏 Or not and after 4 or 5 years I'll give up. 😆

Weekly update. . .I love green checkmarks

I love green checkmarks, something in my OCD list-making-self genuinely loves checking things off, even when it's just electronically and I'm not physically marking paper. 😇

I actually met my posting goals for facebook and instagram this week. 😎 Posting daily has been a struggle for me in the past but I have decided this year to really try to prioritize growing my social media. I have found the planner function to be helpful because I can pre-schedule 2-3 days at a time, so I don't have to actually do it daily. I was not a fan of the "meta business suite" and various weird pages for a long time and they have changed so much over the years it was always confusing, I am still not an expert, but I am learning. 

My husband bought himself a 3D printer for Christmas and as some may have noticed my social media has kind of been all about it lately. 😅 He started making me stuff and some of it has been pretty cool and I'm not the only one who says so either. When he bought the printer, it was not his plan to sell the stuff he made, he just wanted to play with the new tech. 

First there were cats!

Then lots of other things, penguin bookmarks, various fidget toys, rain covers for the security cameras, etc.

 

Then the dumpster for my workbench, which he made because I had commented that the kitten kept trying to eat things on my bench. 😅 Several people commented on the cool-ness or the cute-ness or even the actual usefulness, some even said they'd like one. . . so he made more, and I've been assembling them and now they are for sale in my shop. 😇 

 

One actually sold the day I announced the listing was live 😲 which is a total first for me. My husband was pleasantly surprised and admitted he kind of liked hearing about the likes and comments, not being a social media guy himself.  

If you would like a mini dumpster for your desktop or workbench, click here.  

 
In other news: the annual Valentine Sale has started, so there is 15% off selected items now thru Valentine's Day.